Healthcare Stocks: GenVec Soars Over 10% (PFE, GNVC, XNPT, STRC)
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) jumped 0.80% to $22.07 after the company said that it will sell a minority stake in its animal health unit, which it is renaming Zoetis, in an IPO. Pfizer will provide more details in its Q2 profit update. fizer expects to provide details regarding the proposed transaction as part of its 2012 second quarter earnings announcement. Animal Health will continue to be treated as a continuing operation for Pfizer’s financial reporting purposes. The name of the new standalone company will be Zoetis(TM) (zo-EH-tis).
GenVec, Inc.(NASDAQ:GNVC) rose 10.50% to $2.62 as the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a conditional license for its foot-and-mouth vaccine for use in cattle, representing the biopharmaceutical company’s first approved product. GenVec also licensed the rights to develop and commercialize the vaccine technology to Sanofi SA’s (SNY) Merial animal health division. The Agriculture Department issued the conditional license to Antelope Valley Bios Inc., which manufactured the vaccine under a contract with GenVec.
XenoPort, Inc.(NASDAQ:XNPT) slumped 9% to $5.53 despite the FDA passed the company’s Horizant drug to treat post-herpetic neuralgia, or nerve pain related to shingles, which affects around 100K people a year in the U.S. GSK will pay XenoPort a $10M milestone payment following the first sales of the treatment. XenoPort is already approved for restless legs syndrome.
SRI/Surgical Express, Inc.(NASDAQ:STRC) slid 2.40% after Synergy Health plc agreed to buy the company I for $3.70 per share in cash through a cash tender offer followed by a merger. The transaction is valued in the aggregate at approximately $25.06 million in equity value and $38.45 million in enterprise value. The cash consideration represents a premium of approximately 17% to SRI’s closing share price on September 13, 2011, the last trading day before SRI announced that it would explore strategic alternatives. The agreement has been unanimously approved by each company’s Board of Directors.